The Boy and the Heron: How Do You Live? | A Studio Ghibli Video Essay

oh wow what a beautiful bird oh God those are teeth okay I've been a fan of studio jibli and more specifically the films of the incomparable ha Miyazaki for most of my life my first myazaki movie was a VHS copy of Princess monoke when I was in elementary school followed shortly thereafter by a copy of Castle in the Sky and they immediately grabbed hold of me and never let go princess monoke in particular is still one of the only films that makes me feel the same sense of wonder when I see it as an adult as I did watching it as a child there is evil at work in the land to the West Prince ASI taka in 8th grade A Friend showed me Spirited Away and after eventually gaining access to the full jibli catalog with DVDs and streaming the rest is history at this point I've seen almost every Miyazaki movie including some of his more underrated titles like Porco Roso or the castle of calostro yet despite all the magic darkness and strangeness I've come to expect from his films nothing could have prepared me for the truly bizarre spectacle that is the boy and the [Music] Heron on paper it's a Coming of Age story about a young boy dealing with the loss of his mother in execution it's that and also an unsettling romp through a fever dream of a fantasy world full of man-eating pelicans and parakeet with a deranged manh Heron as your guide so today I want to take a look at Studio jbl's newest film and allegedly haom miyazaki's last the boy and the heron which was released in theaters July 14th 2023 in Japan and in the US on December 8th of the same year this is the first jibli film that I have had the privilege to see in theaters and to be sure parts of it met my expectations with stunning animation mysterious and ambiguous characters and a Serene bolic setting but upon leaving the theater it also left me puzzled after letting it marinate while learning a bit more about miyazaki's life and seeing some different interpretations of what the film means there are a few major themes that stuck out to to me and the boy in the Heron especially with the added context of this initially being intended to be miyazaki's last film I say intended because the man is apparently already beating down the door of the animation studio with new project proposals as of September of 2023 he'll probably die at his desk with a drawing in front of him but whether it's actually his last film or not there's still a lot about the boy and the Heron that feels like it's reflecting on miyazaki's life and career and passing the torch to the Next Generation it's a film that has a lot to say and chooses an Artful and at times truly weird way to say it a foundational element of much of miyazaki's work is the exploration of explicitly anti-war themes through films that analyze the violence and horror of war and its impact on both humans and nature as well as the weight of being complicit in that violence to understand miyazaki's anti-fascism and obsession with depicting the consequences of War we have to understand a bit more about his childhood haom Miyazaki was born January 5th 1941 in Tokyo he was forced to evacuate his home during a bombing at the age of three some of his earliest memories were of bombed out cities growing up among the devastation of World War II and during an era of Rapid change in Japan had a profound impact on miyazaki's work in Princess monoke NASA of the Valley of the wind and how's Moving Castle the destruction and violence of war is at the Forefront with graphic depictions of devastated Landscapes and cities in Porco Roso and The Wind Rises those elements are present to an extent as well but the focus is more on the guilt and moral consequences of participating in and surviving War you can't believe that you're a good person no the good guys were the ones who died both films are also explicitly critical of fascism and its enablers Porco Roso delightfully so thanks for the offer but I'd rather be a pig than a fascist in the boy and the Heron the film begins with the tragic death of our young protagonist maho's mother heo in a hospital fire during an Allied air raid mahito Witnesses the fire and desperately and Feud tries to get get to her in a heartbreaking and terrifying scene where we watch helplessly along with mahito as the hospital is engulfed in flames the animation captures the Frantic fear and confusion the very heat of the fire with devastating realism that expertly evokes the perspective of a frightened child in the aftermath much like miyazaki's family maho's family is forced to leave Tokyo due to the danger of ongoing attacks on major cities his father shoichi Mary's Natco maho's mother's sister and they evacuate to her rural Family Estate where maho's father has established a factory that manufactures parts for fighter planes as a side note I raised my eyebrows a bit at the idea of immediately marrying your dead spouse's sibling but that was apparently common practice to preserve family financial ties in Japan during this era and has been practiced in other parts of the world as well for the same reason miyazaki's own mother was actually his father's second wife and married his father in a similar situation after the death of her sister we also learn early on in the film that Natco is pregnant and so in Rapid succession the boy in the Heron shows us the horrors of war and how it very directly upends maho's life but we also see how his father is complicit in his mother's death as a war profiteer that builds aircrafts for the Imperial Army work that we see him actively take pride in as he brags about how much money he makes from it although it is worth noting that miyazaki's mother was not killed during the war and lived into her 70s with maho's Father The Narrative explicitly seems to negatively frame this aspect of him but we don't really see him reckon with his choices or experience explicit punishment for them in the story his war profiteering is simply an unpleasant part of who he is that makes him a worse parent and husband as he has little time to devote to his family with the constant demands of the fascist machine like mahito Miyazaki was mostly insulated from much of the deprivation and struggles of daily life in Japan during and after the war due to his family's wealth something he felt extremely guilty about even as a child we see elements of this depicted in the eagerness of the maids who mahito affectionately calls the Granny's to see what food his father has brought to share with them as well as lamenting shortages of Commodities like tobacco which the upper class still has access to but most do not the first half of the film builds a strong Foundation of daily life in fascist Imperial Japan from the active enablers like maho's father to the everyday ambivalence of people simply trying to survive this theme is further explored in the second half of the film after mahito was transported into a surreal and Fantastical world with many strange inhabitants including an army of bloodthirsty parakeets and their King which also serve as an allegorical criticism of fascism and How It ultimately cannot sustain in life resulting in destruction and Corruption of anything it's allowed to take root [Music] in maho's new home is in keeping with most of miyazaki's movies in that it's an idilic rural Place surrounded by Greenery and Wildlife but the majesty and Beauty we often associate with these settings is subdued by the weight of maho's grief and a Sinister sense of wrongness represented by a gray Heron that taunts mahito as it swoops around the property the Heron repeatedly tries to lure mahito into a mysterious Tower looming above the forest behind the house the tower was built by Natco and he's Grand Uncle who disappeared inside and was never seen again this knowledge as well as the Granny's worrying that mahito might get taken add to the sense that there's something sinister about the Heron that keeps trying to get him into the tower while miyazaki's previous films like NASA and monoke included themes of environmentalism the need for harmony with nature and Nature's ambivalence to Humanity's whims in these films even when it's terrifying nature is beautiful resplendant awe inspiring the boy in the Heron takes a different approach which we see primarily expressed through its use of birds we do see other Wildlife like frogs and fish but the film seems to be fixated on birds in particular although the herin is beautiful when it wants to be it's also a grotesque windowsill Supernatural creature with shifting human features and a grally voice she's awaiting your rescue in the English dub it's a shockingly great debut voice acting performance by Robert patson you better hold on tight spider monkey yes that Robert patson this portrayal makes sense given the significance of the gry Heron in Japanese folklore according to National Geographic in Japan white herens are often depicted as Messengers to the gods or as representing purity while gray herand tend to have darker more Sinister associations with the world of the spirits and death to the extent many Japanese people actually find them unsettling in this film The titular Heron is a gray Heron the Heron is intimidating as it constantly tries to provoke and lure mahito save me m but as the film goes on we see more of the Heron's true form as mahito and the Heron develop a grudgingly Cooperative relationship after mahito finally enters the tower when Natco vanishes and he goes in after her he also drags one of the Granny's KIRO along with him the story shares some themes with Spirited Away such as a child exploring a supernatural world with a mysterious guide while searching for a parental figure who has disappeared there but what exactly the Heron is within the universe of the film is never as neatly explained as kohaku inspirited away you did it Shiro I remember I was the spirit of the kohaku river we simply have to accept the herin at face or faces value after mahito arrives in the tower the Heron tries to attack him but mahito uses one of his feathers to control him after an arrow fletched with a stray feather chases the Heron down mahito was inspired to make a bow and arrow after Natco defended him with one earlier in the film The Grand Uncle depicted as a sort of celestial wizard appears and instructs the Heron to guide mahito on his quest you and I aren't friends or Allies K but the Heron is reluctant until mahito helps him plug the hole from the arrow so he can fly again another theme in much of miyazaki's work that we see in the the boy and the Heron is the corruption of nature when we try to control it in monoke and NASA this theme is examined with Once peaceful creatures that become dangerous as humans invade and destroy their habitats in the boy and the Heron we see this idea expressed through the Pelicans who were brought to this fantasy world by its creator and trapped there where they cannot eat the fish in the sea and so they're forced to feed instead on wada wada these little guys who seem to represent Souls being reincarnated because is it really a Miyazaki movie if there aren't some little guys a younger version of KIRO rescues mahito from the Pelicans and explains the wada W to him as well as her work fishing for the Dead who can't fish for themselves yes I'm in love with KIRO why do you ask with the knowledge that the wadaw are souls the Pelicans Act of praying on them seems evil but when mahito confronts a pelican injured by someone defending the wada wada he discovers they're actually just starving and doing what they have to to survive this demonstrates the perversion of the grand Uncle taking the Pelicans away from their natural environment for his purpose purposes it also mirrors the effect of fascism and War on a struggling population as systems beyond their control lead them to desperation this contrasts with the enthusiastically fascist parakeets who are also out of balance in this fantasy world growing to unnatural sizes and developing a taste for human flesh while blindly following as their King leads them down a path of Destruction at the end of the film when Grand uncle's world is destroyed the parakeet and Pelicans return to the real world and their natural inclinations although the Heron doesn't as they fly away the parakeet spray poop all over everyone this is another little thing I found fascinating about this movie we get two scenes with the parakeet pooing all over the place as they escape back into the real world and there's also a scene where the Heron drops a big old deuce on maho's window sill mahito also references the bathroom twice and one of the Granny's offers him a bed pan and he uses a small ouse later in the movie this is one of few references in the jibli universe I can think of to toilets or bathrooms or their necessity the most prominent one I can remember up to this point was in how's Moving Castle where Sophie reacts with disgust to how's toilet while cleaning the bathroom one thing I didn't give much thought to until seeing the boy and the Heron is that Miyazaki movies are some of the only ones I've seen that include birds and don't pretend bird poop doesn't exist birds poop a lot and with little concern as to wear which anyone who spends time around them will attest to I didn't notice until I went back and checked but in Kiki's Delivery Service in Castle in the Sky where there's birds there's poop however the boy in the Heron is certainly the first time animal droppings have taken center stage in quite this way and including it as a deliberate Choice since every moment in an animated production is meticulously planned there are no accidents I really wish I could find footage but unfortunately all I have to work with is the trailers that have been released so far after giving it some thought I think the Pooh is here to show nature in a way that isn't sanitized for human consumption even for the purpose of making a film but instead Embraces the messy reality the need to relieve waste is also something that unites us with other animals which may be why mentions of the bathroom were included in the film as well although I will say if they were going to have birds pooping all over the place it should have been the pelicans pelicans poop so much and it is so gross on its surface one of the more obvious themes of the boy and the Heron is the inescapable nature of loss and the pain that goes along with it we see this in the form of death but also in the end of the way things work even when change is necessary we see this pain expressed in several scenes including maho's nightmares where his mother begs him to save her save me and also in the Heron's taunting insistence that she's still alive your mother she's awaiting your rescue but it goes deeper than that to the extent that we see mahito hurt himself because he has no outlet for his pain apparently Miyazaki was inspired to include this scene after learning about the prevalence of self harm in children and the scene is shocking and very effective throughout the movie Natco does her best to fit into the role of a mother for mahito while still privately grieving the loss of her sister although he's polite to her he's also very reserved and his grief takes up too much space in his heart for him to really let her in right away when Natco goes missing and he follows her into the tower to find her this is our first sign that mahito has begun reciprocating her affection in the tower mahito is confronted directly by his grief both by an illusion crafted by the Heron and a young vers of his mother HEI HEI is imbued with Fire magic which may be connected to her death with he's help mahito fights his way to natco's delivery room as she's come to this world to have her baby it's not explicitly explained why Natco goes to the tower but I think it's because she doesn't want to face reality and so she instinctively escapes to a place that's out of time a place where her sister is alive among the spirits of the dead and reincarnated Souls on their way to Earth in the tower she doesn't have to deal with the grief and turmoil of suddenly being expected to replace his as a wife to her husband and mother to her son after mahito enters the delivery room which is against the rules he implores Natco to leave with him and she tells him she hates him when I initially watched this scene I didn't entirely understand that but an article in Forbes you I know by Danny Deo suggested that it was actually natco's concealed resentment for mahito and her own pain that she had been bottling up finally being released which makes a lot of sense to me during this scene is also the first time mahito refers to Nato as mother and this this is the point in the movie where I cried although I do wish the movie had spent just a smidge more time developing their relationship so it had a bit more emotional punch it's no feat to make me cry I will cry at anything the movie spends a lot of time on the slow progress of mahito coming to terms with loss but a lot less time building up the acceptance of Natco as a mother figure or on her emotional Journey but when mahito accepts her there is still a sense of Bittersweet joy in moving forward despite the pain of letting go during a scuffle in the delivery room mahito is knocked unconscious in a dream he meets Grand Uncle the world's Creator who wants him to become his successor Grand Uncle explains how he made a deal with a fallen meteor to create his fantasy world the meteor is actually a reference to a real one that crashed during the mai restoration granduncle explains he must balance the blocks every 3 days or the world will fall apart mahito goes to Grand Uncle after he awakens discovering that HEI has been stolen by the parakeets to use as a bargaining chip after consideration mahito refuses because he recognizes his own flawed nature the per King impatiently attempts to stack the blocks in mahito instead but they fall causing the world to crumble as mahito and Natco return to the real world Himi and KIRO return to their time where HEI will eventually grow up to be maho's mother there's a really sweet moment between them where they say goodbye after they re-enter the real world the elderly KIRO reappears having been protected as a doll in maho's pocket and maho's memories of the other world begin to fade his family eventually returns to Tokyo the boy in the Heron also references the Buddhist philosophy of re Incarnation with cycles of Life Death and rebirth as well as the philosophy of attachment and separation which is seen as a fundamental root of suffering in Buddhism the presence of both spirits and reincarnated Souls journeying back to Earth further establishes the connection between the Fantastical world of the boy and the Heron and Buddhist philosophy Miyazaki doesn't identify as a religious person from what I've read but has great respect for some elements of Buddhism and Shintoism and has incorporated references two and elements of both into prior films here the tower existing out of time calls into question whether time is linear or whether all moments exist simultaneously I am not gone our moments fall around us like rain this may be a reference to the philosophy of terraa Buddhism in which time is viewed as cyclical without beginning or end this may be why we see characters like H and KIRO at different points in their lives in Grand uncle's world at the end of the boy in the Heron mahito accepting the inevitability of Separation but still being brave enough to continue seeking attachments is a powerful culmination of his story mahito family has also been reborn in a way with the the addition of Natco and maho's younger sibling the family returning to Tokyo may also represent the symbolic death of Imperial Japan and the country's rebirth in the post-war era because of who I am as a person I looked up the translation to the inscription above the doorway in the tower F Laina postate it's a quote from Dante's Inferno the English translation is divine power created me in a discussion on redit someone posted the ston of lonus from and I think it resonates beautifully with mahito Journey Through Me the way into the grieving City through me the way into Eternal sorrow through me the way among the lost people Justice moved my high Creator divine power created me highest wisdom and the Primal love before me were no things created except Eternal ones and I Endure Eternal abandon all hope ye who enter beyond the exploration of grief pain and change another theme that seems to present itself in the boy and the Heron is a meditation on the nature of creating fictional worlds films in miyazaki's case there are numerous interpretations of what mahito and the grand uncle could represent and each May mean multiple or different things to you depending on your perspective my friend MJ had some wonderful analysis on this aspect of the film that she has allowed me to include in this video The Boy in the Heron draws very heavily off of the life of hayomi aaki who is represented in both the main character of young mahito and an aging wizard who is Desperately Seeking a successor to the kingdom of Worlds he has spent years creating more than any other jibli film this movie feels like a sort of love letter from Miyazaki to us a sentiment that was driven home towards the end of the movie when the wizard urges mahito to create a world better than the war torn one he was born into a world he chooses to accept and return to and make brighter a feat that Miyazaki himself accomplished with the Advent of studio jibli and the endless Joy his films have spread across the world I will simply add that this film has been viewed by many including Miyazaki himself as his most autobiographical film with Miyazaki referring to the film as my story to other jibli staff members there's a tenderness with which this movie approaches mahito that feels like an expression of miyazaki's affection and kindness towards his younger self looking back a sort of delayed self-acceptance it's probably not a coincidence that he offers him 12 building blocks which may represent the feature films Miyazaki has directed mahito may also represent the next generation of animators who will create fictional worlds of their own I think this interpretation also speaks to the nature of the boy and the Heron as miyazaki's most collaborative film featuring a massive team of Veteran animators he worked closely with especially when we consider the reputation Miyazaki has for being reluctant to relinquish control the film also serves as a reminder of the imperfect ability of filmmaking to create an alternative to our flawed and messy world or to capture it in all of its beauty and ugliness toshio Suzuki a longtime colleague of Miyazaki has a slightly different interpretation of the film viewing the grand Uncle instead as the deceased legendary animator ISO takahara a longtime friend of Miyazaki this is a fascinating explanation for the character especially since mahito declines to follow in the grand uncle's footsteps Miyazaki has been shown to be very staunch in his determination not to imitate other creators for example he destroyed much of his early manga work when the resemblance of his style to that of another artist was pointed out to him so in a way he did refuse to follow in takahata's footsteps instead forging his own path some have also interpreted the Heron to represent toshio Suzuki who Miyazaki was initially suspicious of but eventually developed a friendship and strong working relationship with in Japan the title of the boy and the Heron is how do you live the movie is very Loosely inspired by a novel of the same name from miyazaki's childhood the same one maho's mother left him in the movie The 1937 novel by genso Yoshino is a short Coming of Age story that also serves as a sort of guide to children for living an ethical life I read the English translation of how do you live for this video and found it to be beautiful and moving despite its low stakes and slow pace it's a sweet Meandering Slice of Life story about a young boy without a father learning life lessons as he becomes more conscious of himself the society around him and the kind of person he wants to be interwoven throughout the narrative are conversations with his uncle who serves as a surrogate father we also see entries from the uncle's notebook which he's been using as a sort of diary to collect all of the life advice he wants to give his nephew when he's older the novel features discussions of everything from molecules and gravity mity to the relationship between consumption and production assumptions of poverty and wealth the importance of friendship and apologies and of course staying true to oneself there's even an extended section on heroism and Napoleon it includes a lot of different ideas and how they relate to becoming a good person and living a good life the part of the novel that resonated the most with me and felt like it had the most overlap with the themes in the film came towards the end of the novel when the main character junichi is disappointed in himself for letting letting down his friend after promising to stick up for him against some older classmates who had it out for him when the older boys confront his friend in the moment junichi panics and lets fear get the better of him his friends are hurt and he escapes unscathed junichi agonizes over his failure to stick up for his friend the way his other friends did the way he knew in the moment he should have afterwards junichi's mother recounts an experience she had climbing a long staircase to a shrine behind an elderly woman with a heavy bag the entire walk up she intended to offer help to the old woman whenever the opportunity arose but each time she hesitated and eventually they both made it to the top of the stairs and the opportunity to do the kind thing had passed she tells him once we had gotten to the top of the stairs my good intentions didn't matter at all the chance to do what I felt in my heart probably wasn't going to come a second time that opportunity was gone forever the moment that woman reached the top step wasn't it without the memory of those Stone steps I wouldn't have been able to encourage the good and beautiful things in my own heart to grow and become what they are now if I didn't have that memory I might not have realized for a long time after how each and every event in our lives happens once only and will never be repeated how we have to work to nurture what is good and beautiful in our own Hearts so I think that what happened on those Stone steps was not a loss I was sorry but I also learned something essential about how to live the boy and the Heron is a very different story and to be fair it doesn't claim to adapt how do you live merely to have borrowed its title that both stories are about a young boy learning his place in the world after the death of a parent is where the narrative similarities end however the themes of impermanence regret and the idea that moments of pain and disappointment can be pivotal moments that Propel us forward are present in both stories in the boy and the Heron mahito learns how to let the grief of losing his mother live alongside the love he feels for his new family and decides who he wants to be when he refuses the grand uncle's offer to live in a world of his own making instead of the real world some jibi Matrix Vibes the grand unle retre treat into the Fantastical worlds inside the tower demonstrates his refusal to face the pain and harsh realities of the real world but also to embrace its beauty and all its flaws part of the beauty of the boy and the Heron is how many different meanings can be gleaned from it when Miyazaki was asked in an interview what the answer to the question how do you live was he replied I am making this movie because I do not have the answer despite its bizarre elements the boy in the Heron features many of Studio jbl's Main Stays a Bright Child protagonist seemingly villainous characters who are more complex than initially let on and gorgeously rendered animation all accompanied by a beautiful score by Joe [Music] heishi another fun tidbit I learned while researching this video is that Miyazaki actually demonstrated his total trust in his longtime collaborator by letting him watch the first visual cut of the film and allowing him to create the score with very little supervision or oversight simply saying I know you will make something great the resulting score is truly superb surprising no one while I would consider many of miyazaki's Works to be masterpieces this film feels like his magnum opus there is a stunning depth and variety of interpretations to the meaning of the film that people will likely be analyzing for decades to come like everyone else except for perhaps some contemporaries trapped in his shadow I hope Miyazaki goes on making movies for as long as he's able but regardless I'll always be grateful for the gift that is this beautiful film that asks us to consider how do you live but that's just my opinion let me know what you thought of the boy and the Heron in the comments down below did you find this movie as bizarre as I did what themes stood out to you I'll be revisiting this movie and miyazaki's other films in future videos so like share and subscribe for more see you next time Peter Zayn also I just want to say a quick thank you to my partner for helping edit the script for this video you're the best

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Keywords: the boy and the heron, how do you live, studio ghibli, the boy and the heron meaning, the boy and the heron review, the boy and the heron recap, the boy and the heron video essay, hayao miyazaki, miyazaki movies, spirited away, princess mononoke, howl's moving castle, the philosophy of the boy and the heron, robert pattinson, The boy and the Heron analysis, The boy and the Heron explained, The boy and the Heron ending explained, Ghibli movies, Anime

Id: lnq5-guCjTU

Length: 27min 1sec (1621 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 12 2024